The first step of the challenge we all face is to "see" what's actually happening in the world; to learn how things work, why they are the way they are, and to realize that an awful lot about what we're shown and told every day often has very little to do with reality, what's right or what's true.

In an interview on the Charlie Rose show and others in 2006, Al Gore said he felt a big reason why the Bush administration had not stated an acceptance of the science of global warming and climate change was because it would morally obligate them to take action.

This may be one reason why we all have a tendency to psychologically resist and deny certain things -- because it would require us to re-think our habits and routines, and, in many ways, our perceptions of ourselves and others.

But deep down, we know something's not right. And when we step back and look at our lifestyles, we know for instance that materialism and over-consumption are empty, unsustainable pursuits.

We know that pollution is out of control, that weather seems a touch strange of late - warmer, colder or more extreme than we remember just a few, short years ago - and we know that politicians must in large part say what they need to in order to appeal to the powerful corporate interest groups they have to please in order to attain - and remain - in office.
 

Consider the wasteful logic of almost every holiday ritual we participate in: Christmas trees, wrapping paper, unhealthy food.

In contrast, as you go about your usual day-end decompression, imagine a completely life-like hologram (that you can't turn off) of a starving African family in your living room - their struggle, their desperation, their love for each other.

Now take a second to compare the hardship of their lives to yours, the excesses of our society to theirs, and try to envision how different your life would be had you suffered the unfortunate circumstance to have been born there instead of here.

The first step of the challenge we all face is to "see" what's actually happening in the world; to learn how things work, why they are the way they are, and to realize that much of what we're shown and told every day often has very little to do with reality, what's right or what's true.

The planet won't wait for us to save it, ourselves or those we love.